Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for example, Sobchak said, “I believe we could have avoided” the current tensions “if Russia were not rejected by the European Union. Unfortunately, the Europeans have not overcome their instinctive fear of Russia and never invited my country to join their great project.” The remark, of course, misses the fact that Russia neither applied to join the EU nor showed any willingness to go through the arduous accession process.